the fool's way | River of the Runes

A PATHLESS PATH

Let's get this straight:

you're tired of the same old spiritual program.

You're tired of traditional practices that feel distant from who you are right now. You're tired of chasing a concept of "enlightenment" or "awakening" and feeling like there's always some next thing. You're tired of chasing experiences that end up feeling flat in a month.

You just want to be able to live your life, the way you want it, and not feel like shit about it.

Welcome to the Fool's Way.

Chronically Serious

the fed-up mystic

We take spirituality too seriously.

I'll say it again, "we take spirituality too seriously."

And to be fair, a lot of times it feels like life or death. It feels 100% that serious. From childhood when I was facing my mortality with a life-threatening and unknown chronic illness to later when my religiously dogmatic belief system just wasn't cutting it any longer and I had to start from scratch and find a better way, this shit was serious.

So don't get me wrong. It is deadly serious. But it isn't meant to be engaged with so limitedly, so strictly, so rigidly. It isn't meant to be taken seriously.

Spiritual freedom is about play. It's about breaking out of bondage and running wild, feral, and free through the streets of our imagination. It's about thinking you know one thing and getting the rug pulled out from under you again, and again, and again.

There's no room for the expert on the Fool's Way; there's no room for masterminding your way through to escape the rough spots.

I know you've already done it all. I know you've been to the classes, done the rituals, and still feel like you're beating your head against the wall. You're not seeing the material evidence of your spiritual efforts. You're hopping from peak experience to peak experience afraid of the crash out, the burn out, the low-low that still feels disconnected.

That shit is boring. We've done that. We've been there. We bought the next class thinking it was going to save us. We followed the next account that was going to lead us to material wealth and a regulated nervous system. So why do we still feel fucked up?

Because we're taking it too seriously. And it's time to start listening to that voice of whimsy that actually has the unreasonable desire to step into the risk of being you, offollowing your own unique, passionate, and unhinged way of living that will bring you closer to God than ever before.

When all else feels flat and dull,

when my world lacks luster

and shine only blinds me,

when I feel my spine round

and my face prone against the soil;

I chew dirt, taste iron and dust.

When my words fail and my reasons give out,

when I support myself on nothing but existence herself,

because I have nothing, feel nothing,

am nothing.

Nothing I risked, yet lost it all.

Here is where I find my Self.

The God of Whimsy

the compassionate trickster

So How?

no like how?

Boredom is our greatest metric. For now, that's all I'll say.

No more rationalizing. No more following prescribed ways. This is a way of undoing. It is not a selfish way, but it is a self-full way. Get used to it. And be ready to be brutally honest. Let that inner critic out and give it a job judging what isn't meant for you.

The Fed Up

The Saucy

The Spiritual Outcast

The Black Sheep

The Not Good Enough

The Mold-Breaker

The Cynical

The Silly

The Erotic

The Sad Clown

The Jester

This is literally for everyone because it is the pathless path. But you have to be done listening to everyone else. You have to be ready to put your head in the mouth of the lion and ask to be devoured. You have to be ready to decay until the only thing left is what can never die: the Ultimate You.

Are you brave enough?

And no one is without whimsy. Get over yourself, pfft!

Who is this for?

what if I'm not whimsical?

Why River?

who is she?

My name is River North and I'm the devil on your shoulder, the trickster shapeshifter come to pull the rug out from beneath your feet, the thief in the shadows ready to pick your pockets clean of everything that isn't meant for you. Why would you want to carry all that extra weight anyway?

I am in service to the trickster archetype and the god of Whimsy. I sell the wares of self-liberation. Your lies are never safe with me, but your truths are.

I am a gentle friend with a fierceness for truth. I have incisive seeing, but warmhearted understanding. I choose enjoyment, silliness, and frivolity because this work can be mired in seriousness and mirky darkness. I am always learning, just as you. I have a way of speaking to the parts of yourself that are as of yet still unfamiliar and bringing them round the campfire to play and chat. I am anything but formulaic because this work is too wily and people are too unique to rely on systems. I am led by runic understanding, which is radical, relational, and real. I am ruled by Mercury (Odin, ha!) and it is obvious. :)

My background:

Runic Teacher & 8 Year Practitioner
Ceremonial Magician
5 years of Tibetan Buddhist Ati Yoga/Dzogchen Practice
Bardic Grade in the Order of Bards, Ovates, & Druids (OBOD)
Reiki Master Teacher trained by Lisa Belvoir | VortexHealing Foundational with Lorraine Goldbloom

[This informs, but is not included in my work: Lifelong Herbal Studies | Naturopathic Counseling | Trained in TCM by Dr. Perkins]